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Rohan: James Gandolfini's 'passion project' comes to HBO

If James Gandolfini’s “Criminal Justice” had turned out as splendidly as the renamed project that succeeded it has (and why would we ever suspect otherwise?) the “Sopranos” star almost certainly would have added another hit HBO series to his...

If James Gandolfini’s “Criminal Justice” had turned out as splendidly as the renamed project that succeeded it has (and why would we ever suspect otherwise?) the “Sopranos” star almost certainly would have added another hit HBO series to his credits.

TV

THE NIGHT OF

9 p.m. Sunday, HBO

But fate intervened.

Gandolfini, proud son of Park Ridge, filmed the “Criminal Justice” pilot in late 2012 and early 2013. That May, HBO decided to pick up the series (after previously dropping it). But then in June 2013, the 51-year-old Gandolfini died of a heart attack — and his “passion project,” as HBO calls it, idled uncertainly for a few years.

Tonight, however, it’s finally launching — as “The Night Of,” with Gandolfini getting posthumous billing as one of five executive producers. John Turturro, 59, has the leading role that Gandolfini was to have had: John Stone, an ambulance-chasing lawyer who stumbles into a headline-making client and case. One night, while trawling a police precinct, he sees a Pakistani-American college student with big, soulful eyes in a holding cell. Acting on his gut, out of compassion, opportunism or both, Stone offers to represent the kid.

Though a central character, Stone shows up late in tonight’s 90-minute episode, which, to generate buzz, HBO made available on demand two weeks ago.

The story line: Nasir “Naz” Khan (terrific British actor Riz Ahmed), who lives with his parents in Jackson Heights, Queens, takes his father’s taxi cab, without permission, to go to a party in Manhattan. But he gets lost and doesn’t know how to activate the cab’s “off duty sign,” and things take an intriguing turn when a beautiful, troubled 22-year-old Upper West Side woman (Clifton native Sofia Black-D’Elia) climbs into the back seat. The night ends with Naz being arrested for her murder.

Did he do it, though? Naz claims he can’t remember the night past a certain point, but insists he couldn’t have done this bloody deed. It’s easy for a viewer to believe that. But do we know the whole story?

An eight-part limited series, based on Peter Moffat’s “Criminal Justice” series, which aired on the BBC in 2008 and 2009, “The Night Of” was created by Steven Zaillian (“American Gangster”) and Richard Price (HBO’s “The Wire”). Zaillian, who directed seven of the eight episodes from teleplays he wrote with Price, has described it as “a crime story, a police story, a legal story, a corrections story,” which becomes “a social story.”“The Night Of” was filmed in and around Manhattan and is filled with wonderful characters, including lead detective Dennis Box (Bill Camp), who’s soon to retire and seems to be burying nagging suspicions about Naz’s guilt; shrewd, gravel-voiced prosecutor Helen Weiss (Jeannie Berlin), who looks and sounds as if she’s spent decades smoking cigarettes in the stairwell of the 100 Centre Street courthouse; Freddy (Michael Kenneth Williams, “The Wire,” “Boardwalk Empire”), the feared and respected Rikers Island inmate who becomes a mentor to Naz; Naz’s hard-working, beleaguered mother and father (Poorna Jagannathan and Peyman Moaadi); Alison Crowe (Glenne Headly), the grandstanding, high-powered attorney who realizes the murder case’s cultural and political overtones and sets out to steal Naz away from Stone; Chandra Kapoor (Amara Karan), the legal assistant she keeps as window-dressing.

The most fascinating character of all, though, is Stone, who’s sort of the Broadway Danny Rose of the criminal-justice community. The messy-looking, street-smart Stone wears sandals in all circumstances because he has severe eczema on his feet, which he scratches nearly raw with chopsticks. Much time is devoted to his efforts to clear up this repellent condition — Stone even resorts to covering his feet with plastic wrap after smearing them with Crisco — which can be comical but is also sad. Things get especially interesting when he teams up with Chandra to work on the case.

After Gandolfini’s death, Robert De Niro committed to taking over the Stone role, but had to back out because of scheduling conflicts. And as you watch the series, you are grateful that Turturro was the one who brought this character to the screen. He imbues him with a quirky dignity.

Nonetheless, there are times when you can’t help imagining Gandolfini in this close-to-his-heart role, can’t help picturing him clomping around the city in sandals, poking around in dark and dangerous places, cagily conversing with a prosecutor or suspect.

The late star still hovers over this project. It’s not just that his name is in the producing titles nor that “Sopranos” cast mates Aida Turturro (John’s cousin) and Max Casella pop up in small roles, but that his eventual successor had been one of his friends — and it’s easy to imagine the famously generous Gandolfini giving Turturro, and this project, his bless